Emmanuel Macron once again defends his pension reform and criticizes Marine Le Pen’s proposals on purchasing power
Pension reform again and again. Guest of France 2 this Wednesday morning, Emmanuel Macron was again questioned about one of his flagship but also controversial reforms of his program. While he has changed his position in recent days, the candidate of La République en Marche has reiterated his desire “to concert” in the next few days to develop his project. Then if he is elected, “we are going to vote” and “from 2023”the retirement age will be shifted “four months each year”. This will set the legal retirement age at 64. « in 2027-2028 » and “then there will be a review clause to see whether to go further or not.
But Mr. Macron wants “be able to index retirement pensions to inflation from July” and put “the minimum pension at 1,100 euros”. He then defended the principle of this reform. “If we want to be able to continue to invest in autonomy, how can we finance it? I don’t want to raise taxes, I want to lower them. Can we finance them with debt? No. I want to reduce it from 2026. So we have to work more”he says.
The outgoing president also returned to his proposals in terms of purchasing power, the main concern of the French for this vote. He notably attacked Marine Le Pen’s desire to abolish VAT for a certain number of basic necessities. “Going from 5.5% VAT to 0 on products with already reduced VAT, we take people for fools, it only lowers prices by a few cents”, he criticized. The candidate for La République on this subject defended the tariff shield put in place by the government on energy prices – “it has prevented 100-140% increase” – and pleads instead for “food checks and support.